10 Movies That Were Supposedly Cursed

Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd do a staged reading of "A Confederacy of Dunces" in 2003. That film adaptation of the book, just one of many, wouldn't wind up getting made either. Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Is it possible for a movie to be cursed without it ever having been made into a movie? John Kennedy Toole wrote this satirical novel before his suicide in 1969. Only the work of his mother got it published at all, but it won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981. Efforts to turn it into a movie began almost immediately but were derailed by the death of the lead actor at every turn. First it was to be directed by Harold Ramis and to star John Belushi. Belushi died. John Candy signed on to play the lead. He died. Chris Farley was the next actor attached to the film. He died.

A version starring Will Ferrell seemed to be moving toward filming, but whatever strange forces are lined up against this movie felt that killing off Ferrell would be too predictable. Instead, the head of the Louisiana State Film Commission was murdered ("Confederacy" is set in New Orleans), and Hurricane Katrina destroyed parts of the city that would be needed as locations. The film remains unmade.